A novel water-soluble flavonol-based fluorescent probe for highly specific and sensitive detection of Al3+ and its application in onion and zebrafish.

A novel and simple turn-on fluorescence probe (HD) for Al3+ detection was successfully developed based on flavonol derivatives. This probe exhibited a significantly enhanced fluorescence response toward Al3+ in aqueous solution which could be observed by naked-eye from poor fluorescence to strong light green emission. The probe HD displays highly specific detection for Al3+ over other competitive metal ions, and the detection limit of probe HD for Al3+ was determined to be 2.57 × 10-8 M, which are much lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value for drinking food/water. The binding stoichiometry of probe HD with Al3+ was determined to be 1:1 according to Job's plot and ESI-HRMS analysis, and the binding constant was calculated to be 2.01 × 104 M-1. The probe HD exhibited high selectivity, high sensitivity, good anti-interface ability, and wide pH application range as well as the quantitative determination in the detection of Al3+. The coordination mechanism of probe HD with Al3+ was supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and HRMS analysis. In addition, the probe HD was found to have good cell permeability and could be applied for live-cell imaging to detect Al3+ in onions and zebrafish.

A highly effective "turn-on" camphor-based fluorescent probe for rapid and sensitive detection and its biological imaging of Fe2.

In this work, a novel fluorescent probe CBO was synthesized for detecting Fe2+ using the natural monoterpenketone camphor as the starting material. The probe CBO displayed turn-on fluorescence to Fe2+ accompanied by the solution change from colorless to green. As expected, there was an excellent linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity of probe CBO and the concentration of Fe2+ (0-20 µM), and the detection limit was as low as 1.56×10-8 M. In particular, CBO could selectively sense Fe2+ more than other analytes (Fe3+ included) through the N-oxide strategy, and quickly responded to Fe2+ (60 s) over a wide pH (4-14) range. Additionally, based on the rapid fluorescence response of CBO to Fe2+, a simple test strip-based detector was designed for boosting practical applicability. The probe CBO had been successfully applied to the fluorescence imaging of Fe2+ in onion cells and living zebrafish. The probe CBO was a powerful tool of detecting Fe2+ level in organisms, which was of significance to understand the role of Fe2+ in Fe2+-related physical processes and diseases.